Part 54 (1/2)
The very reputation of the first young ood opinion of everybody that knows him People are afraid of the other: they can not trust him He beat his employer, why should not he beat others? Everybody knows that he has not been honest at heart with his employer, not loyal or true He must work all the harder to overcome the handicap of a bad reputation, a s out in life with a heavy handicap, which, if it does not drag hireater, and success, even a purely commercial success, so ood, solid, substantial reputation, a clean record, an untarnished past It sticks to us through life, and is always helping us We find it waiting at the bank e try to borrow money, or at the jobber's e ask for credit It is always backing us up and helping us in all sorts of ways
Young men are sometimes surprised at their rapid advancement They can not understand it, because they do not realize the treood reputation which is backing theot a position in a publishi+ng house at fifteen dollars a week, and worked five years before he received thirty-five dollars a week
The other e at the office after hours and taking work hohts and holidays, for such a small salary; but he told them that the opportunity hat he was after, not the salary
His work attracted the attention of a publisher who offered him sixty dollars a week, and very soon advanced him to seventy-five; but he carried with hi, hard work, never thinking of the salary, but _regarding the opportunity as everything_
E to do more than they are paid for; but here is an instance of a young man who attracted the attention of others even outside of the firreat deal
The result was, that in less than two years fro sixty dollars a week, he went to a third large publishi+ng house at ten thousand dollars a year, and also with an interest in the business
The salary is of very little irity and efficiency you have left behind you and the experience you have gained while earning the salary These are the great things
In olden tiive years of their time in order to learn a trade, and often would pay their elish boys used to think it was a great opportunity to be able to get into a good concern, with a chance to ithout salary for years in order to learn their business or trade Now the boy is paid for learning his trade
Many employees may not think it is so very bad to clip their hours, to shi+rk at every opportunity, to sneak away and hide during business hours, to loiter when out on business for their e all used up froet another place their reputation has gone before them, and they are not wanted
Others excuse theround that their employer does not appreciate their services and is ht just as well excuse hientleround that other people werefriends, you have nothing to do with your es You ht, but you can do right yourself You entleman, but you can be one yourself; and you can not afford to ruin yourself and your whole future just because your eht to be No y he may be, your opportunity for the time is with him, and it rests with you whether you will use it or abuse it, whether you will -block
The fact is that your present position, your way of doing your work, is the key that will unlock the door above you Slighted work, botched work, will never race
There is nothing else so valuable to you as an opportunity to build a name for yourself Your reputation is the foundation for your future success, and if you slip rotten hours, and slighted, botched work into the foundation, your superstructure will topple The foundation must be clean, solid, and firm
The quality which you put into your ill deter upon the best of which you are capable, of always de the lowest or second best, no matter how small your remuneration, will make all the difference to you betweento your work the spirit of an artist instead of an artisan, a burning zeal, an absorbing enthusiasht
Take no chances ofyour reputation by the picayune and unworthy endeavor ”to get square” with a stingy or mean employer Never mind what kind of a man he is, resolve that you will approach your task in the spirit of a h ideals or not, you will be one Remember that you are a sculptor and that every act is a chisel blow upon life's marble block You can not afford to strike false blohich el that sleeps in the stone
Whether it is beautiful or hideous, divine or brutal, the ie you evolve from the block must stand as an expression of yourself, of your ideals Those who do not care how they do their work, if they can only get through with it and get their salary for it, pay very dearly for their trifling; they cut very sorry figures in life Regard your work as a great life school for the broadening, deepening, rounding into syiven faculties, which are uncut dia and bringing out of their hidden wealth and beauty Look upon it as a etter Regard the living-getting,part of your career as apart of it
The smallest people in the world are those ork for salary alone
The little et in your pay envelope is a pretty small, low motive for which to work It may be necessary to secure your bread and butter, but you have soher to satisfy than that; that is, your sense of the right; the demand in you to do your level best, to be aThese should speak so loud in you that the nificant in co eet quite as much salary as they think they should, deliberately throay all of the other, larger, grander remuneration possible for the square” with their e, do-as-little-as-possible policy, and instead of getting this larger, more important salary, which they can pay themselves, they prefer the consequent arrested development, and become s large or ressive in their nature Their leadershi+p faculties, their initiative, their planning ability, their ingenuity and resourcefulness, inventiveness, and all the qualities which e, full, coet square” with their eht their own growth, strangle their own prospects, and go through life half men instead of full rand, coht be
I have known e, trying to keep fro hard in the performance of their duties, than they would have worked if they had tried to do their best, and had given the largest, the most liberal service possible to their eingly done
Start out with a tacit understanding with yourself that you will be ain you, the best thing in you You can not afford to debase or de out yourin you
Never h quality of your work or not, or thinks more of you for your conscientiousness, you will certainly thinkthe approval of that still sht” to the noble act The effort always to do your best will enlarge your capacity for doing things, and will encourage you to push ahead toward larger triuhosts of half-finished jobs, the dishonest work done away back in their youth These covered-up defects are always co back to huress The great failure aret square with their employers for the small salary and lack of appreciation
No one can respect himself or have that sublih achievement while he puts half-hearted, mean service into his work Thehis whole soul into his task, who has not learned the secret of taking the drudgery out of his work by putting the best of himself into it, has not learned the first principles of success or happiness Let other people do the poor jobs, the botched work, if they will Keep your standard up It is a lofty ideal that redeems the life from the curse of commonness and imparts a touch of nobility to the personality